Ingot and mold for making same



E. J. KAUFFMAN INGOT AND MOLD FOR MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 10. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR MA TORNEY Aug. 9, 1932. E. J. KAUFFMAN 1,870,365

INGOT AND MOLD FOR MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 10,- 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I; I 5 mlluml. 4

I flu v 70 15 1 1 INVENTOR [M72211 a'ffiazflmmz 3 MZTTORNEY 2 Aug. 9, 1932. E. J. KAUFFMAN 1,870,365

INGOT AND HOLD FOR MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 10. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Edi/210x 1 Kai/f man M TTORNEY Patented Aug. -9, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDMUND J. KAUFFMAN, OF GIBARD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO VALLEY MOULD 8a IRON COR- POIRATION, OF HUBBARD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK INGO'I' AND MOLD FOR MAKING SAME Application filed December 10, 1929. Serial No. 412,958.

design an ingot mold which will produce an ingot that may be satisfactory from a metallurgical standpoint, butwhich may be unsatisfactory from a rolling standpoint. It is also possible to design an ingot and an ingot mold for producing the same wherein the desirable characteristics of the steel produced by the ingot in the ingot mold may be destroyed by subsequent rolling operations due to the physical design of the ingot itself.

The present invention has to do with an ingot and an ingot mold adapted to produce ingots which are of improved metallurgical characteristics and also of improved rolling characteristics.

The present invention has more specially to do with ingots of steel and ingot molds for producing ingots having a relatively long dimansion on one cross section and a relatively short dimension on the other cross section.

It has been recognized in the art that for certain purposes an ingot mold having undulations or waves on the side walls which produce an ingot with reverse undulations or waves on the sides of the ingot, that such ingot is particularly desirable metallurgically. In the rolling operations, the dimensions of the mass of metal in the ingot is changed.

This change may be made by elongatlng the mass, such as where structural steel or rails are fabricated from the ingot, or the change may be in flattening and elongating the mass, as where plates are rolled from an ingot. These changes in dimensions of the mass stretch the skin of the ingot and it is desirable that this stretching operation may take place wthout rupture of the skin.

The present invention deals with an ingot mold adapted to produce an ingot wherein longitudinally extended waves or ripples of low altitude, as measured from the valley to the crest of the waves, extend lengthwise of the ingot and in converse shape extend lengthwise of the mold. These ripples are also developed on relatively large radii, so that the ripples are in the nature of low altitude, wide, undulations or ripples. Where high, sharp corrugations, as was common in the old art, are formed, the tops or crests of these-corrugations tend to burn out or decarburize in the soaking pit. This produces strips or areas of non-uniform metal when the ingot is fabricated into finished material. In the present case, the low undulations or ripples obviate this decarburizing efi'ect because there is no substantial tendency of the tops of the ribs or waves to overheat. Moreover, the corresponding ripples of the mold matrix do not oxidize or deteriorate by fire-cracking as rapidly as the high, sharp corrugations heretofore commonly used. The same is true of the corners of the relatively square ingot and therefore in the present case the corners of the matrix of the mold are formed upon relatively long radii, which produce well rounded corners on the ingot that like wise do not tend to overheat.

Where ingot molds are provided with waves in the side walls thereof to produce ribs and valleys on the ingot, it will be seen that when the ingot rests on the roller table to be fed to the rollers of the rolling mill the bearing of the ingot on the roller table is on the high parts of the ribs. If these ribs are confined to vthe middle portion of the ingot,'the stability of the ingot in the roller table is substantially reduced, and this is of substantial importance in view of the high speed with which modern rolling mill operations are carried'out. 1

The present invention comprises an ingot of steel and an ingot mold inwhich the ribs formed on the ingot are so constructed as to provide ample bearing surfaces on the roller tab-1e on the flat or wide side of the ingot and likewise to provide a substantial and satisfactory bearing surface on the narrow side of the ingot. It is also desirable that the ribs be of uniform depth throughout the length of the ingot and that the crests of these ribs which rest on the roller table be substantially parallel even though the ingot itself may taper from one end to the other.

The ingot mold comprising the present invention is provided with a matrix having rounded corners, with waves or ripples in the side and end walls of the matrix so constructed that those in the long side of the matrix all lie outside of tangent lines drawn from the rounded corners of the matrix, while those on the end walls all lie inside of tangents to the rounded corners of the matrix. table to engage only the crests of the ripples or waves on the wide sides ofthc ingot, to permit the roller table to engage not only the ripples on the narrow sides, but also the crests of the corners. This provides ample bearing faces to support the sides of the ingot when lying on a narrow edge and furthermore, the design is such as to obviate dccarburizing in the soaking pit. In order to permit the ripples or low waves in the side walls to be parallel, slight triangular shaped zones are provided on the sides of the ingot between the corner radii and the inclined portion of the ripples on the side of the mold adjacent the corners, and on the walls of the matrix forming the edges of the ingot, slight triangularzones are provided in the crests of the. corner rounds. These triangular zones, which may or may not be flat, disappear as a point at the small end of a tapered ingot, and the bases of these triangles are at the large end of a tapered ingot. In this way the matrix of the mold is suitably tapered to provide stripping taper and at the same time crests of the ripples on the mold are parallel so as to form proper bearing surfaces to the rolls and to guide the ingot straight on the roller table as the ingot approaches the rolls.

In the rolling mill art, it is customary to provide collars on the rolls to shape and guide an ingot being rolled. If waves are placed on the sides adjacent the corner of the ingot, these collars strike these waves and leave a collar line on the side of the ingot which is at right angles to thepressure of the rolls. According to the present. invention the ripples on the wide side of the ingot do not begin at the corners but are a sufficient distance therefrom so that relatively deep collars may be used on' the rolling mill for the first pass of the ingot through the mill. without in any way endangering the ingot to collar creases or marks.

Other objects and characteristics of the present invention will be obvious from the foregoing and also from the specific description hereinafter given. It is to be understoodthat the disclosure herewith is illustrative of the preferred forms of the inven- This construction causes the roller tion but it is not to be considered in the limiting sense.

Fig. 1 illustrates a vertical section through an ingot mold taken on a plane determined by lines 11 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 illustrates the top or plan view of an ingot mold with an ingot therein in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 3 illustrates the bottom plan view of an open-ended ingot mold embodying the present invention and showing an lngot therein. I

Fig. 4 is a more or less diagrammatic View showing a cross section of an ingot in accordance with the present invention passing between collared rolls.

Fig. 5 is aperspective View of an ingot in accordance with the present invention.

While the drawings illustrate an openended ingot mold and an ingot produced therefrom, it is to be understood as not necessarily limited to open-ended molds, but may be employed, if desired, in connection with molds known in the art as closed bottom molds.

Referring now to the drawings, the novel ingot mold A comprising the present invention is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 as enclosing an ingot B also comprising a novel invention. The ingot mold is provided with a body portion 1 having a matrix therein, which matr'x is relatively rectangular in cross section.

. The matrix of the mold is provided with corners 4 laid out by radii 5. The s des of the mold are provided with ripples 6 laid out upon radii 7. The ripples on one pair of sides of the mold extend outwardly from lines 8-8 and 99, which are respectively tangent to the arcs or curved surfaces comprising the corner rounds. The ripples on the other sides of the mold have their crests within lines 1010 and 1111, which are tangent to the crests of the corner rounds. The ripples 6 which lie outside of the lines 88 and 9-9 are on the long sides of the rectangle, where the cross section of the mold is rectangular, while the r pples 12 which lie within lines tangent to the corner rounds are on the short sides of the mold, where the matrix is rectangular in cross section. This structure permits the ingot, when set on the narrow edge as illustrated in Fig. 4, to r'de or bear upon the tops 14 of the corner rounds, and when the ingot is placed on the broad sides, the ingot rides or bears upon the crests 15 of the side waves. In both cases, this provides a wide bearing surface for the ingot while being rolled and at the same t me permits a rippled or undulating skin on the sides of the ingot, which skin stretches during rolling operation without a tendency to crack or rupture.

It is the general practice in rolling mills td i lines 9-9 and 88 occur so that the collars collars do not come in contact with the ingot,

as is general practice. However, in the early stages of rolling, it is particularly desirable that the side ripples or waves be maintained out of contact with the edges of the collars 17.

Another feature of the present ingot which facilitates the rolling operation is the fact that the mold is so constructed that the crests of the ripples 6 on a side of the ingot are parallel to each other, and the crests of the ripples 12 on theingot are likewise parallel to each other on a side. When an ingot lies on its side on the roller table, the lines of bearing or-contact, comprising the crests 15 of the ripples 6, or the crests 14 of the corner rounds of the ripples 12, present straight line contacts with the roller table. This causes the ingot to travel in a straight line while going through the rolls and is of substantial importance in connection with the rolling of steel ingots. In order that the crests of the ripples on a side of the ingot may be parallel, triangular zones18 are provided adj acent the long sides of the ingot between the corner rounds and the adjacent ripple and preferably are arranged in the valley of the ripples which meets the corner round. Triangular zones 19 are also provided on the narrow sides of the ingot betweenthe corner rounds and the adj acent ripple. These zones 19 preferably are formed adjacent the crests of the corner rounds. While these triangular zones on a tapered ingot or matrix of 'a mold are preferably flat, it is to be understood that the word flat is used in rather a loose sense in that the zones may be a curved surface if desired.

The above described ingot mold and ingot permit the retention of desirable metallurgical characteristics of the ingot and at the same time make the ingot of such physical characteristics as to facilitate rolling and fabricating operations.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A rectangular ingot having ripples extending lengthwise of the ingot, said ripples on the wide sides of the ingot having valleys adjacent the corners of the ingot, and the ripples on the narrow sides of the ingot beginning with the corners of. the ingot as crests.

2. A rectangular ingot of steel having rounded corners, and ripples on the sides of said ingot, the rounded corners on the wide sides of said ingot being below the crests of the ripples, and the rounded corners on the narrow sides of said ingot extending outwardly to substantially the same distance as the crests of the ripples on the narrow sides.

3. A rectangular cross section ingot of steel with ripples on the sides thereof and with rounded corners, the ripples on one pair of sides extending outwardly farther than the rounded corners, and the ripples on the other pair of sides extending outwardly substantially the same he ght as the rounded corners.

4. An ingot of substantially rectangular cross section having ripples on the sides thereof adapted to comprise bearing surfaces for theingot on a roller table, the ripples on one pair of sides having valleys adjacent the corners of the ingot, and the ripples on the other pair of sides having crests substantially at the corners of the ingot.

5. An ingot of substantially rectangular cross section and tapering from one end to the other, ripples on the sides of said ingot with the crests of the ripples on each side being substantially parallel to crests on the same side, and with the crests of the ripples on one pair of sides extending nearer to the corners of the ingot than the crests of the ripples on the other pair of sides.

6. An ingot mold having a matrix substantially rectangular in cross section, the side walls of the mold being thicker than the corner walls, ripple recesses extending lengthwise of the matrix, said ripple recesses on the wide sides of the matrix being located outside of a tangent to the corners of the matrix, and the ripple recesses on the narrow sides of the matrix being inside of a tangent to the corners of the matrix.

7. An ingot mold having a substantially rectangular cross sectional matrix with rounded corners, the. corner walls of said mold being thinner than the side walls and ripple recesses on the sides of said matrix, the ripple recesses on the wide sides of said matrix extending outwardly farther than the corners, and the rounded corners on the narrow sides of said matrix extending outwardly to substantially the same distance as the bottoms of the ripple recesses on the narrow sides of the matrix.

8. An ingot mold for casting ingots of steel of substantially rectangular cross section and tapering from one end to the other, the corner walls of the mold being thinner than the side walls, ripple recesses on the sides of the matrix of said mold with the bottoms of the ripple recesses on a side being substantially parallel to each other, and with the ripple recesses on one pair of sides extending nearer to the corners of, the ingot than the ripple recesses on the other pair of sides.

9. An ingot mold for casting ingots of steel having a substantially rectangular cross section and rounded corners, the corner walls of the mold being thinner than the side walls, the sides of the matrix of the mold comprising longitudinally extending ripple recesses, the ripple recesses on one pair of sides having their bottoms located in a plane tangent to the rounded corners of the same said sides and the ripple recesses of the other air of sides having their valleys substantia ly adjacent a plane tangent to the rounded corners of these same said sides.

10. A metallic ingot having bearing ripples on the sdes and having rounded corners, the crests of the ripples on one pair of opposed sides being substantially level with the corners of the ingot, and the valleys of the ripples on the other opposed sides being substantially level With the said corners.

EDMUND J. KAUFFMAN. 

